Christopher Nelson

Christopher Nelson is a 3ie Senior Research Fellow with over 20 years’ experience working with institutional self-evaluation systems. He is currently an independent consultant working with organizations on their evaluation policies, systems and aid architecture. 

Chris previously worked as the Manager for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure with the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG). He was involved in thematic evaluations, oversaw the self-evaluation validation function and was heavily involved in large institutional reforms to their implementation completion report (ICR) system. Prior to joining IEG, he was a Director at AusAID (the former Australian Government bilateral aid organization) where he was responsible for developing, implementing, and running the agency’s self-evaluation system and their performance policy. 

Chris has extensive experience in project evaluation, poverty research, and working in fragile states. His primary research interests are focused on the application of learning theories to development aid, evaluating agriculture value chains, and reviewing organizational operations systems. 

Chris holds a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and a PhD in Development Evaluation from the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF), University of Technology, Sydney. This is a transdisciplinary institute that draws on multiple disciplines to tackle wicked problems.